Well, my wife got me the book Clapton for Christmas. It’s definitely worth the read if you’re at all interested in Eric’s life/career. I’m about 1/3 of the way through it (it’s an easy read), and there are certainly a few interesting stories are included in it. I definitely want to go back and get some of the early recordings of his that I don’t have. I’ve always loved his first CD and there’s a bit about that period in the book. Now I know why it was so long between his early albums - he was either strung out on heroin or a raving alcoholic or both.
makes me scratch my head when i see these guys reach the age they have after a life full of class A narcotic use and drunkeness,isnt that stuff spossed to be bad for you?
does it make any mention in the book about eric’s reaction to the time when hendrix,(who had just arrived in england for the first time 6 days earlier)got up and jammed with cream at the polytech in london.chas chandler(bass player of animals and jimi’s manager) says the deal was that jimi could play if eric stayed on stage,that way,if it sounded bad eric could pull it out.story goes that within 10 seconds of jimi playing ,erics hands fell of his guitar and he walked off stage,nervously lookin a for light to a cigg…it was only a matter of days later clapton went out and got his hair permmed 
Yes - I can’t figure how how a full blown heroin addict & alcoholic could survive & be prosperous. Not only that but he smoked 3 packs a day until he quit when he was 48.
Clapton does mention that encounter with Hendrix but not all those details. I think he thought Hendrix was a little over the top at that moment but I believe he hung out with him a bit afterwards. He had bought a Strat for Hendrix and was going to give it to him on the day he died.
He also talks about how Hendrix’s first album that eclipsed the Cream’s first release and was discouraging to them at first (until they gave up on England and focused on the US where they became a sensation).
i dont want to make it sound one sided,because it was said that hendrix loved clapton also,infact,chandler says that part of jimi’s agreeing to come to england with chas hinged on chandler introducing the two,which leads me to wonder where hendrix had heard of clapton,this was sept of 66 were talkin about,maybe a john mayall record or sumthin?and i heard the clapton getting jimi a STRAT story too before,eric said it was a lefty model,and he had never seen one before that so he bought it for hendrix
The Clapton autobiography is indeed a good read. A survivor’s tale, really. Seems pretty honest. Gearheads might want some more stuff about guitars and amps and playin techniques, though, but I guess that doesn’t interest most of the Clapton fans.
(Actually, I’ve read it a few times because I spend most of my Autumn translating it into Finnish.)
Actually I would have preferred more on the gear aspect myself but you wouldn’t get that in an autobiography.
I’m at a point in the book where Conor, his son, has died and he’s moved on (to another relationship), and I have to admit that I’m getting tired (and angry) at Clapton’s personality at this point.
He’s had 2 illegitimate kids, a string of girlfriends (while still married to Layla) and been in rehab twice.
Not only that but he’s sacked two different bands (one made up of his “buddies”), due to pressures from the record company.
He claims not to be interested in commercial success, yet he bowed to his record company & agreed to do songs (ex: Forever Man) by another writer, and do colloborations with Phil Collins (whom I can’t stand).
His whole life is one of an immature, egotistical person who has lived his every whim during his adult life, and taken very little responsibility for anything.
I guess that’s what being a “rock star” is really about because it seems to be the same with his friends: George Harrison, Mick Jagger, etc.